Fukushima leak classified as 'serious radiation incident'

Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (C), wearing a protective suit and a mask, inspects at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture August 26, 2013, in this photo released by Kyodo. (Reuters/Kyodo) / Reuters

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has raised the rating of the radioactive water leak at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant to Level 3 – a "serious incident" on an international scale of radioactivity.

The upgrade is from Level 1, an “anomaly,” which was initially
assigned to the leak of 300 tons of radiation-contaminated water
from a tank at the Fukushima plant, when it was first acknowledged by Tokyo Electric Power Co, or
TEPCO, the company running the plant, on August 20.

Level 3 indicates a serious threat on the International Nuclear
and Radiological Event Scale (INES), which goes from Level 0 (no
threat) – to the highest level, 7, which was assigned to the
Fukushima nuclear plant meltdowns following the March 2011
tsunami, and also to the Chernobyl catastrophe, which happened 25
years before the Japan disaster.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority criticized TEPCO for failing to
discover the source of the leak earlier. The company running the
plant acknowledged Tuesday that radioactivity near the leak and
exposure levels among patrolling staff started to increase in
early July.

On Monday, during a visit to Fukushima, Japanese Industry
Minister Toshimitsu Motegi promised the government would supervise the clean-up at the plant.

Nuclear regulators lashed out at TEPCO on Wednesday for ignoring
their calls for stepping up patrolling efforts at the plant,
which they believe has led to the leak being overlooked.

But the chairman of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority,
Shunichi Tanaka, said that describing the situation at the plant
as “dire” was wrong.

"What's important is not the number itself but to give a basic
idea about the extent of the problem," AP reported Tanaka as
saying.

Tanaka said a much bigger problem at the plant was contaminated
ground water, which might be reaching the sea. It’s unclear how
much water is escaping, the level of its contamination and the
damage being done to marine life forms, the regulator said.